Global Mobile Ad Spend Forecast to Double Print in 2019

Mobile advertising is forecast to account for more than one-quarter (26.7%) of global ad spending in 2019, an impressive rise from the 15% share of spending it occupies this year, according to a new forecast from Zenith. Should Zenith’s predictions hold true, mobile will capture more than twice the spend share of newspapers (8.5%) and magazines (4.5%) combined.

Not surprisingly, print’s share of ad spend is expected to decline, from about 17% this year (11% newspapers; 5.8% magazines) to 13% in 2019, as newspapers and magazines will see declines of 5% and 4%, respectively, per year through between this year and the end of the forecast period.

In fact, mobile is virtually the only ad medium expected to gain share over the forecast period, drawing from TV, desktop internet, print and radio, among others. Only cinema advertising will maintain its share, though its fractional 0.7% piece of the pie in 2019 will be fairly unchanged from 0.6% this year.

In sum, desktop and mobile internet advertising is expected to climb from 33.8% share of global ad spend this year to 41.4% share in 2019, overtaking TV (35.6%, down to 32.7%) in the process. (Many forecasts call for this shift to take place next year.) By 2019, mobile advertising spending is predicted to be almost twice as large as desktop internet spending.

Looking further at internet ad spending, and display is expected to be the fastest-growing segment, with 13% annual growth to 2019. However, those increases are expected to be entirely from social media (20% per year) and online video (18% per year), with traditional banner ads (see click rate benchmarks here) instead declining by 1.2% per year.

Zenith notes that with its rapid growth, social media ad spending is expected to match newspaper ad spend by 2019 and well and truly overtake it in 2020. That means that in 2019, 1 in every 12 advertising dollars spent globally will be on social media.